Cali vs Sao Paulo - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 14, 2025

	Cali	Sao Paulo
🚶 Cost of living one person	$759	$1052
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$1941	$2682
🏠 One person rent	$279	$496
🏘️ Family rent	$476	$872
🍽️ Food expenses	$273	$302
🚐 Transport expenses	$121	$143
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$395	$701
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	19 km	5 km
🎓 Higher education	45	95
😀 Quality of life	57	69
🏙️ Population	2.47M	11.5M

The cost of living in Cali is 28% less expensive than in Sao Paulo. Cities ranked 6830th and 5192nd ($759 vs $1052) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 17th and 1st in Colombia and Brazil, respectively. Check Colombia vs Brazil comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 0.5 months in Cali compared to 0.7 months in Sao Paulo. Cali ranked 6th best city to live in Colombia vs Sao Paulo ranked 1st in Brazil, while ranked 6175th and 4142nd among best cities to live in the world.

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Cost of living in Cali vs Sao Paulo infographic

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Prices in Cali vs Sao Paulo

Prices for goods and services in Cali and Sao Paulo are partly crowdsourced by our visitors, just like yourself. Please consider telling us about your city.

	Cali	Sao Paulo
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$4.9	$7.6
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$24.8	$34
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$8.12	$7.12
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.4	$2.3
☕ Cappuccino	$2.39	$2.55
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.15	$1.19
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$260	$622
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$192	$380
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$481	$1124
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$350	$691
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$51.4	$48.7
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$78.2	$75
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$21.7	$18.7
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	11.52%	12.27%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1046	$2855
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$838	$1938
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.77	$0.96
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$27.9	$48.5
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$14.1	$7.53
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.05	$1.11
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.35	$1.04
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.49	$1.56
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.28	$1.19
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.52	$2.66
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.93	$11.5
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.39	$4.68
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$8.1	$9.54
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.7	$2.7
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.06	$1.84
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.99	$1.61
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.28	$1.82
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.84	$1.39
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.14	$1.26
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.49	$0.48
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.02	$1.98
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$12.7	$8.72
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.14	$1.3
🚬 Cigarette pack	$2.8	$2.55
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$6.13	$6.16
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$4.28	$4.2
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$2.16	$1.52
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.69	$1.39
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$22.9	$27.9
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$4.79	$7.81
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$32.7	$65.2
💇 Haircut, simple	$7.26	$12.8
👖 Brand Jeans	$66.4	$55.2
👟 Brand Sneakers	$93.2	$92.9
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$242	$475
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$6322	$15428

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Cali

Distance	City	Cost of living
27 km or 17 mi	Palmira	$693
74 km or 46 mi	Buenaventura	$782
80 km or 50 mi	Tulua	$511
111 km or 69 mi	Popayan	$572
148 km or 92 mi	Neiva	$565
154 km or 96 mi	Armenia	$667
160 km or 100 mi	Cartago	$679
170 km or 105 mi	Salento	$655
178 km or 111 mi	Pereira	$730
184 km or 114 mi	Ibague	$506
213 km or 132 mi	Girardot	$515
214 km or 133 mi	Manizales	$678
227 km or 141 mi	Florencia	$489
251 km or 156 mi	Quibdo	$708
262 km or 163 mi	Pasto	$608
285 km or 177 mi	Facatativa	$722
285 km or 177 mi	Soacha	$848
301 km or 187 mi	Bogota	$976
308 km or 192 mi	Tumaco	$622
316 km or 196 mi	Ipiales	$604
321 km or 200 mi	Envigado	$950
329 km or 204 mi	Medellin	$1030
330 km or 205 mi	Villavicencio	$546
330 km or 205 mi	Zipaquira	$762
339 km or 210 mi	Bello	$881
386 km or 240 mi	Ibarra	$585
421 km or 261 mi	Tunja	$637
446 km or 277 mi	Esmeraldas	$606
463 km or 288 mi	Quito	$882
469 km or 291 mi	Duitama	$960
471 km or 293 mi	Sogamoso	$581
500 km or 311 mi	Barrancabermeja	$1082
504 km or 313 mi	Yopal	$777
506 km or 314 mi	Santo Domingo	$598
518 km or 322 mi	Turbo	$721
554 km or 344 mi	Floridablanca	$686
556 km or 346 mi	Bucaramanga	$693
571 km or 354 mi	Ambato	$542
595 km or 369 mi	Quevedo	$649
596 km or 370 mi	Monteria	$663

Cities near Sao Paulo

Distance	City	Cost of living
12 km or 7.3 mi	Sao Caetano do Sul	$737
13 km or 8.3 mi	Taboao da Serra	$701
14 km or 8.6 mi	Guarulhos	$697
15 km or 9.4 mi	Diadema	$698
16 km or 9.7 mi	Santo Andre	$690
16 km or 10 mi	Osasco	$712
17 km or 11 mi	Sao Bernardo do Campo	$656
21 km or 13 mi	Carapicuiba	$605
22 km or 14 mi	Maua	$691
23 km or 15 mi	Caieiras	$687
25 km or 15 mi	Embu das Artes	$704
25 km or 16 mi	Barueri	$830
26 km or 16 mi	Mairipora	$671
26 km or 16 mi	Franco da Rocha	$699
27 km or 17 mi	Ferraz de Vasconcelos	$643
28 km or 17 mi	Jandira	$699
29 km or 18 mi	Ribeirao Pires	$665
29 km or 18 mi	Itapecerica da Serra	$706
30 km or 18 mi	Poa	$639
30 km or 18 mi	Cotia	$780
30 km or 19 mi	Itaquaquecetuba	$671
31 km or 19 mi	Itapevi	$654
31 km or 19 mi	Santana de Parnaiba	$689
32 km or 20 mi	Francisco Morato	$702
33 km or 20 mi	Itanhaem	$666
33 km or 20 mi	Cajamar	$693
36 km or 22 mi	Embu-Guacu	$678
36 km or 22 mi	Aruja	$664
41 km or 26 mi	Campo Limpo Paulista	$685
43 km or 26 mi	Varzea Paulista	$687
44 km or 27 mi	Cubatao	$657
45 km or 28 mi	Mogi das Cruzes	$741
48 km or 30 mi	Jundiai	$737
49 km or 30 mi	Atibaia	$618
51 km or 32 mi	Sao Roque	$673
52 km or 32 mi	Sao Vicente	$648
55 km or 34 mi	Santos	$816
56 km or 35 mi	Praia Grande	$638
61 km or 38 mi	Bertioga	$659
61 km or 38 mi	Ibiuna	$666